The Show Notes

The Transcript

Freaking Out Over the Thought of Writing a First Draft? Try Scaffolding …

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In that speech she said when writing a novel (but this can apply to articles, blog posts, or even sales letters) you should use a framework. She called it a scaffolding. And she said why:

“Use it to divide what seems like an endless, unmarked journey.”

Think of it as a gimmick to trick yourself into thinking there’s a larger order to the project. Scaffolding allows you to take that burden, that pressure of figuring out where this is going off of your shoulders and lets you just focus on the writing. The words.

8 Scaffolding Topics You Can Use Right Now

In other words, scaffolding gives it parameters. Create an endgame goal. Artificial or not.

But what sort of parameters?

This could be Joseph Campbell’s A Hero’s Journey structure, where you have the hero, the goal, the conflict, the mentor, and the moral.

In her book “Process“, Sara Stodola says that Zadie Smith has a list of potential ideas she could use as scaffolding:

The liner notes to the Beatles’ White Album

The speeches of Donald Rumsfield

And a chapter each on the books of the prophets in the Old Testament.

Scaffolding will help you get started and give you a point of reference before the writing takes over. It’s catalyst, not the backbone.

Your choice. However: you must always remove any trace of the framework. You must make it your own.

Scaffolding in Action

For instance, you could use the 5 Ws to work through your first draft. Let’s say you wrote a piece about why you no longer get drunk.

In a normal setting you would open with the who. You re-arrange it to open with the why. And in the body you blend the four others (plus the how) into a list of examples, so that each entry you listed what you drank, who you drank with, where you drank, how you drank, and when you drank.

I drank dollar cranberry vodkas to excess on Tuesday nights in an empty dance club.

I drank wine spritzers to excess in a hotel room on Wrightsville beach during summer break with people from high school.

You can mix up that formula to kill monotony. Then you close it out with a conclusion.

When someone reads your article they won’t read it and think you are using the five Ws, unless she trains her eyes on it. Otherwise it looks fresh, like yours.

So, what scaffolding are you going to use today to get that rough draft out of you and on paper?

Let me know on Twitter, these comments. And if you haven’t yet, leave me a rating and review on iTunes. It’s a great way to show your support of this show.

Until next time, take care.

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